Patients suffering from debilitating diseases and/or injuries often require rehabilitation in order to regain functionality in areas affected by their condition. Some rehabilitation techniques require that a patient utilize a walker to assist in supporting their body weight while they attempt to regain greater functionality of their legs and lower body. Rehabilitative walkers may take many forms including the traditional walkers designed to support a user while they stand and walk, as well as saddle sling seat walkers designed to support a user in a seated position while they use their legs for motive force.
Saddle sling seat walkers, also known as sling seat walkers, cradle a patient's body weight by using a sling which is secured to the walker frame and disposed between the patient's legs. Sling seat walkers provide necessary support for patients incapable of fully supporting their own body weight while walking. Sling seat walkers help patients walk that have reduced lower body strength and control. This type of walker provides many benefits to patients that use such walkers, e.g., increased blood circulation, reduction of bed sores, stronger bones and muscles, and a positive influence on mental and emotional states of being.
Sling seat walkers known in the art suffer from a variety of limitations. For example, only a select group of patients having the right combination of body size, strength and control can use existing sling seat walkers. Sling seat walkers offer height adjustment only and include small wheels that do not have brakes or directional locks, thereby making control of such walkers extremely difficult. Additionally, existing sling seat walkers do not offer any form of arm support and are not particularly user friendly for a patient or a therapist.
Prior sling seat walkers are difficult to use, require tools to make adjustments and occasionally cause injuries to patients that use them. For example, injuries from a vertical swinging entry bar are common. Additionally, wheels that are not large enough have a tendency to vibrate, roll and comer erratically under a patient's weight. These are not reassuring conditions for patients undergoing physical therapy. Furthermore, sling seat walkers having wheels without brakes create unsafe conditions during transfer of patients to and from their wheelchair and/or any time it is necessary to maintain the walker in a stationary position. Additionally, sling seat walkers without directional locking apparatus lack control of tracking and directionality.
At times, patients may lack the ability to fully support their own upper body weight. Thus, when using a sling seat walker without arm supports, some patients lose control of their upright body posture and therefore they cannot use this type of walker. Similarly, existing sling seat walkers lack features which permit therapists to manipulate the walkers, e.g., handles.
Accordingly, there has been a long-felt need for a sling seat walker having length, width and height adjustability, wheel brakes, wheel directional locks and arm supports, while remaining user friendly for both the patient and therapist.